KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1662- 1722)

This type of brush washer is described as being of gong shape, or tangluo xi, as it has a very compressed body. It belongs to a group of vessels referred to as the Badama, ‘Eight Great Numbers’. This group was previously thought to comprise a total of eight differing shapes. John Ayers identified a possible ninth form of the Badama by pointing out the existence of two slightly different globular water pots. The first is termed as a pingguo zun, ‘apple jar’ modelled with a gently inward curving mouth rim; and the other with a raised, low, neck (similar to a stalk) that maybe referred to as a Shiliuzun, or ‘pomegranate jar’. See, J. Ayers, ‘The Peachbloom Wares of the Kangxi Period (1662-1722)', Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 64, 1999-2000, p. 49.